JOEL ACHENBACH: Is There Life Beyond Earth? Do We Even Want To Know? “Brin, a signer of the petition protesting the campaign for active SETI, said we don’t know what’s out there and shouldn’t presume that aliens are benign. He said there are roughly 100 scenarios to explain why we haven’t heard from the aliens so far. About a dozen of those scenarios are unpleasant, he said.”

Plus, Frank Drake comments: “I think it’s a waste of time at the present. It’s like somebody trying to send an e-mail to somebody whose e-mail address they don’t know, and whose name they don’t know.”

I’ve seen several recent discussions of this topic that seem unaware that there were international agreements entered into over two decades ago on the subject of whether and how to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligences. I discuss them at some length in this piece from the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. They’re agreements, not treaties, and don’t have the force of law, but the press coverage seems entirely oblivious to their existence.

I also recommend Ben Bova’s book.

UPDATE: First link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!